


Maybe (Jily Fic)

by waterwhosleepwho



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, jily
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:33:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24408856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waterwhosleepwho/pseuds/waterwhosleepwho
Summary: The story of how Lily came to love James
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

Lily Evans has always stuck to her thought that James Potter is a complete and utter prat. He's never shown her otherwise. All he's done is show off and bully others. But maybe he matured a bit the summer before sixth year. And maybe Lily would see that.

~*~

The first time Lily saw that he may have changed was the second weekend of the school year. The common room was practically empty and only Lily, Marlene, Alice, and James were there. James was waiting for Sirius to come out of the dorm room.

"Padfoot! Come out!" James calls up the stairs as he becomes impatient.

"I'm gay!" Sirius shouts back. Lily isn't sure what she expected. Maybe she expected James to turn on his best friend or brush it off as a joke but she definitely didn't expect what really happened.

The corners of James's mouth twitched up. "Congrats, Pads but that's not what I meant. I meant come out of the dorm."

Sirius appeared at the top of the stairs with a grateful grin. "Thanks Prongs."

"Yeah, yeah. Now come on, I'm hungry," James teases lightly. The two laugh and walk out of the common room.

The phenomenon continued at breakfast. Lily and her friends had joined their fellow Gryffindors at the breakfast table and due to coming late were forced to sit next the the Marauders.

"What about him? He looks like he might be your type," James suggests, pointing to a Hufflepuff boy.

"He's not my type," Sirius says with a smile. He was just happy that his friend accepted him.

"Well, how am I supposed to know? I'm trying here," James complains.

"I know. Thanks, mate, but leave the romance to me," Sirius teases. James laughs.

Maybe he's not as closed minded as Lily thought.


	2. Chapter 2

The second time was in the halls. Lily was walking down a fairly empty hallway when she heard someone cry out in pain. She was about to turn toward the noise when someone ran past her, James. She went after him.

When the pair arrived they saw a first year Slytherin being held up against the wall by a seventh year Ravenclaw. There was a trace of blood on the wall behind her head a tears in her eyes.

"Put her down," James spoke calmly but with rage.

"Or what, Potter? Going to ruffle your hair at me?" The Ravenclaw boy taunts. James lifts his wand and wordlessly fires a spell. Expelliarmus by the looks of it, but incredibly powerful. The Ravenclaw was sent flying down the hall.

The young girl slides down the wall with tears streaming down her cheeks. James kneels next to her. "Are you okay?" He asks softly.

"Y-yes. Thank you, James," the girl sniffles, hugging James around the waist. James's eyes fly open but he hugs the girl back.

"No problem, sweetheart," James murmurs. The girl wipes her tears away and giggles slightly.

"You aren't as bad as people say you are," the girl says. Lily assumes that the people saying that he's bad are Slytherin because everyone else puts him on a pedastle.

"Don't tell anyone. I have a reputation to protect," James jokes, winking at the young girl. She giggles.

"I have to go. I'll see you later, James," the girl says as she stands up. James stands as well.

"Sure thing, sweetheart. I'll see you around," James says. The girl waves before walking off in the direction of the Hospital Wing.

"Should I go with her?" He mutters to himself. 

"I think she can make it on her own," Lily days softly. James jumps.

"Oh, hey. If you're sure," James replies unsurely. Lily nods. 

Maybe he's not as bad of a person as she thought.


	3. Chapter 3

Everyone knows that James doesn't get screaming mad. He stays calm. Which is honestly more scary. But if you ever make James so mad that he shouts, you know that you have screwed up royally and you apologize immediately.

It was during their free period when it happened. Lily was helping Alice study while the Marauders were just talking. They were the only people in the common room so the girls could hear every word.

"Are you going to tell him or should I?" Remus asks.

"Nobody should tell him!" Peter squeaks back.

"Tell me," James says.

Peter stays silent so Remus speaks up. "Some people were talking bad about Peter. Saying that he doesn't deserve to hang out with us and that he's stupid. Things like that."

"Their names," James demands, his voice scarily quiet.

"You don't have to-" Peter tries.

"Their names Peter," James says again. Peter sighs and surrenders their names.

James stands up and storms out of the common room. Lily and Alice share a look before going after the Marauders.

"Thompson!" James shouts as he comes across the group that Peter spoke of. Everyone else in the hallway backs away from the group.

"Potter! How've you been, mate?" Thompson asks, not hearing the anger in James's voice.

"I am not your friend! But you hurt one of mine!" James shouts. Thompson shys away from James as the Gryffindor towers over him.

Sirius decides to step in. Her stands in front if James. "C'mon mate. Don't kill the bloke."

"Give me one good reason," James says. His voice was much calmer but his glare was still trained on Thompson.

"James, please," Peter begs. James sighs and lowers his wand.

"Remember that the only reason you aren't in the Hospital Wing right now is because of him," James snarls, jerking his head in Peter's direction.

Thompson and his friends scurry away. James pockets his wand and runs his hand through his hair in anger.

"James?" Lily asks softly. Everyone turns to her in surprise. She surprised herself as well. 

"Evans?" James returns.

"You have to calm down," Lily says. Anyone could feel the anger that still radiates from him.

James seems to deflate a little. "Yeah. Yeah, I know."

"Let's go back to the common room," Sirius says. James nods and the pranksters go back to the Gryffindor common room. 

Maybe James cares more than Lily thought.


	4. Chapter 4

Lily was sitting in Mcgonagall's office, when she found out.

"I've decided to ask you to tutor a few students because you have the second highest Transfiguration score in your year," Mcgonagall says.

"Second? If you don't mind my asking, who has the highest?" Lily asks. Mcgonagall smiles slightly.

"James Potter. He already has a busy schedule with quidditch and his tutoring sessions so I was wondering if you could help," Mcgonagall offers. Lily sits, feeling starstruck. James Potter has the highest score in something?

"Um, yes. I'll help," she mutters.

~*~

It was a Thursday. Thursday was the only day that James and Lily tutor on the same day. Lily glances over to the boy and sees him goofing around with the first year he was supposed to be tutoring. She scoffs and rolls her eyes.

"This is boring," the kid she was tutoring groans.

"Sorry," Lily says. "But learning isn't supposed to be fun."

Suddenly, the kid that James was tutoring runs up to the kid Lily was tutoring.

"James is great! He's making it super fun! How are you doing?" the boy asks. The young girl glares in response.

"Hey, bud. Want to try it out?" James asks the boy. The boy nods and flourishes his wand, saying the incantation and transformed his matchbox perfectly. Lily's jaw dropped.

"Yeah!" James cheers, high fiving the boy. The pair goes back to their own table while Lily huffs and turns back to her pile of books.

~*~

"How did you do that?" Lily demandes when they pass one another in the hallway.

"Do what?" James asks, completely baffled.

"The boy! You didn't open a single book! Did you do the spell nonverbally?" Lily asks, her mind racing through possible scenarios.

James's face hardens. "I would never do that. Jake did the spell on his own. And the reason I didn't open a book is because that's the reason he needed a tutor in the first place. He's dyslexic. Learning isn't something he enjoys so I turned it into something he would enjoy. He a kid. Not an adult."

Lily was shocked. He was right. Lily had been treating Lucy like an adult who knew how to do everything. She didn't even stop to consider why the girl needed a tutor.

Maybe James was different than Lily thought.


	5. Chapter 5

Lily was confused. She had gone through almost all of her years at Hogwarts having one notion of how James Potter is. An arrogant toe-rag who doesn't care about anyone except himself.

But maybe she was wrong. Maybe James is smarter than she thought. Maybe James is more accepting than she thought. Maybe James is kinder than she thought. Maybe James is more mature than she thought.

Maybe Lily was wrong. Maybe James was worth another look. Another chance. Not that she had really given him a chance in the first place.

Lily was lost in thought when she ran into him. Literally. Lily's head slammed into James's chest and she almost lost her balance. She would had fallen if James hadn't grabbed her by the elbows to steady her.

"Are you okay?" James asks, leaning down slightly to look into Lily's eyes worridly. Lily blinks for a moment, the world spinning. They had collided fairly hard.

"Um, yeah. Yeah, I'm okay," Lily says. James's eyebrows furrow more.

"Are you sure? You seem kinda out of it," James says. Lily fights the smile that tries to spread across her face.

"I'm fine, promise. Now, I have an essay to turn in. So could you...?" Lily asks, trailing off at the end of her question. James seemed confused for a second before remembering that he was still holding Lily.

"Oh!" He exclaimed, retracting his hands. "Sorry," James mumbled, blushing faintly and adjusting his glasses.

"That's okay," Lily says softly before maneuvering around the boy and walking off to her next class. All the while wondering what had come over her. 

The halls were silent as she passed through the crowds of people who had seen the entire ordeal take place. By the time dinner rolled around, everyone was talking about how James Potter had lasted an entire conversation without being insulted by Lily Evans, the girl who had hated him since first year.

Maybe this was just the beginning for the two of them. Maybe.


End file.
